also do 2006 if you need a confidence boost
us 2014 candidates will tell you not to get bogged down in GIPS
Find a study partner who is close to your band or commitment. Meet at least once a week and review a section or test. Make sure each of you can literally explain the answer or concept to someone who holds a series 7 ie doesnt need you to define words. I found that when I could explain the topic to my partner, I knew it well. Study groups are good but can be overkill based on your level of commitment or they can go off on tangents. Write notes at least one paragraph for every LOS. Make lists when approriate and define terms in answer length. I read mostly notes the last few weeks about 160 pages.
Schwesser notes. I used the CFAI texts for level 1 and realized how much a waste of time it is. Immediately switched to Schwesser for L2/L3, saved a lot of time. You can even start studying in February too. The notes go straight to the point and test maybe 95% of the material you will see on the exam. Key point is understanding every point in those notes! I read each book once and fully understood concepts and finished by end of March, 2nd read much faster in April, May practice exams and you should be good. Make sure you understand what you did wrong on the practice exams and even if you get them “right”, read the solution to see how the answer is written. Mark tough on yourself. After an practice exam, adjust your schedule accordingly. Looking back at it, I still think I studied too much, probably total 200 hours or less. Level 3 is not hard, its just different. Then again CFA material is not hard at all. The main issue is recall on the writing portion, even then, some questions if you see the practice exams, its not fully 100% recall, you can pick stuff. -passed all the exams in 18 months
Different things will work for different people, but here is what worked for me:
- People will tell you Level 3 is easier. Ignore them. Assume it is as hard as all the others, and allow just as much time for reading as Level 2 even though the books are a bit shorter. It also depends what interests you - for me I hate accounting and like asset management, so Level 3 was more interesting, but that’s obviously a personal thing.
- I used Schweser except for Ethics (since the books hadn’t arrived yet). I can’t stand e-books and never even looked at the rest of the CFAI books except for a few searches the last week. The Schweser mocks are also good for material coverage BUT they drove me absolutely nuts with their scoring model making me feel hopeless. When it comes to learning how to do the AM, focus on past tests. By definition nothing can be more realistic than that.
- People also say that Level 3 is more conceptual and less formulas and memorizing. Not really true. There are still lots of little details and don’t think they won’t ask something on those because they are interested in the big picture - the details matter.
- Flashcards - I never made a single flashcard in my life until Level 2. But they work. Don’t buy them or take someone else’s. Every time I got something wrong or wasn’t sure on a mock, I made a card. I have about 100 by the end and drilled constantly. It was like a free portal - I could write anything on a card and memorize it, and then I knew it for the test. There were numerous questions that were as straightforward as having to recite one of my cards. And because of the potential open-ended nature, I made them very open as well. For example, I had one card that said “Cognitive Errors” on one side. On the other side, I wrote out every cognitive error and its definition (because I couldn’t rely on getting a list of them in a multiple-choice). By the day of the test, I could recite every behavioral bias, in order categorical.
- Practice tests - everyone will tell you to simulate exam conditions. Do it! I took every practice test in two full three-hour sessions on the same day, with no more than two hours between them. Practicing how to drink enough water but not too much is as important as studying. One thing I found on the real exam was that my hand hurt a lot more in the morning than on the practice tests - I probably wrote too much for some answers.
- I consider myself very blessed to have never failed a CFA exam, but I gather from those on this board that it isn’t fun. It is much better to risk over-studying than under-studying. Going into each exam, I felt that if I failed, there was nothing left I could do.
Good luck!
practice, practice, practice. Find as many past exams as you can and do them all.
whassup mah brother. let me lay it down. follow the schweser study plan, adding to it where appropriate, such as re-reading summaries and also Qbank quizzes but dont go overrboard on the Bank it kinda is average at best but for early on it’s decent. then you want to finish said calendar very very early. Save 1.5 month about to do ALL CFAI EOC and pair these with the schweser video CDS., i did not do the class. finish all of the above 2 motnhs early and start up on the practice tests. do all of them. reveiw all of thenm. review them again. and again. only time urself on 1 essay section one time, no need to overdo it, i did not, u are fine on vignettes. i had by far my highest score on 3, 40/60/80 of about 76 keep it simple and u kill it son
If you are lazy like me… Find a study buddy 
CFA Text, Schweser (found it very useful to memorise concepts for the essay part), Past Exam AM Papers and Schweser Practice Exams. But you have to practice the essay part as you need to be very concise.
well said
schweser for regular study(atleast 3 iterations)
practice from CFAI material only, EOCs mocks blue boxes everything you can find
To me, the schweser material is the way to go. I read through these once (only referencing CFA for problem areas or more detail) and then moved on to taking as many practice exams as possible. Having more of a summarized version using Schweser gives you enough time to do this. I think the practice exams are an enormous help, because you learn how CFA is attacking you (it is a bit different feel in my opinion in L3, and you get a sense of where they are going)
You need to practice the AM to get the feel and timing down. To me the AM was the easier part (finished with 10 minutes left), where I felt extremely confident after finishing (less confidence after the PM, which was definitely not the norm). I felt the balance on the AM and PM for my studies was important, and while I could’ve spent more time mastering some material, learning the exam is of prime importance in my opinion with the different format for L3
I could not disagree more. The CFAI text is confusing, indirect, and convoluted. Even fore Ethics this holds, I encourage anyone to try and tell me different. For level 3, I read the ethics material in CFAI (first time of all 3 exams reading material directly from CFAI) and it took a page to say the same thing Schweser did in a paragraph. There is no debate here it is not close. Read the CFAI if you plan to study for 10 months and then still not finish the material and what you did finish you will be confused on. Read Schweser if you are like most people who only want to the information to pass and plan to study 6 months.
For me, I focused solely on CFA curriculim for the readings. I went through all blue boxes within the readings as well as going through all the EOC. I bought all 6 Schweser practice exams and did those. I also did all the CFA Level 3 exams I could find. I took notes based on all the answers from all EOC/exams which I used for continuous review. This wasn’t a huge departure from my level 2 strategy, and seemed to work for me. In the case of level 3, as others have mentioned I did start the reading earlier than usual, which gave me time to skim through a second time.
Also overtired, did a really great job summarizing and very generously shared all of their notes which provided a good complement to my notes during review: https://sites.google.com/site/cfalevel3examprep/home
overtired’s original post: http://www.analystforum.com/forums/cfa-forums/cfa-level-iii-forum/91320687
Combo up CFAI readings with Schweser. Books 2,3,4 I used CFAI. The rest Schweser. Did most of CFAI eocs and took about 4-5 mocks with the majority of the mock materials coming from CFAI
^@clip1989
how did you find the CFAI text confusing? It’s incredibly well written and rich. Did the black and white font bother you?
I read schweser, 2 times … did about 1000 questions in the qbank, all mocks by schweser and cfai, 2 past years. I re read entire Los whenever I get a wrong answer or wrong concept. No eoc as I find them taking lots of time to solve while not drilling in the concept in a succinct and straightforward manner. This worked well for all 3 levels that I did… but I think I only passed on the borderline.
How are Schweser materials confusing? Maybe that’s what allowed me to score very high on level 3?
How the hell do people have time to go through CFAI text? If you are jobless or have a stable 40hr job week and got all the time in the world, sure perhaps give CFAI texts a try.
thats exactly what I think… going through CFAI text can take forever to complete 1 iteration only
Dosent matter when you start…some people start as early as Jan some as late a April…also some prefer CFA study material, some Schweser and some attend classes and watch all the videos…key is find what works for you…one thing that i found everyone suggested when i was looking at a similar thread from last year was solving at least 10 papers before you sit for the exam…take 3 hrs tests and go through the answers religiously…that way you can learn what to expect on exam day and how to pace your progress on the exam day. Despite practising so much i missed 11 marks in AM from fixed income…which is the field of my work…however in the second paper FI was the first thing i solved… Thankfully cleared L3 in first attempt…so guys once again all the study is waste if you are not solving previous year or practice question papers…All the Best
Remind yourself why u r doing it.
Don’t think about result, you only need to give your best effort.
Plan for way above min 300 hours. atleast 450-500 should be your target.
Study your study provider’s text ( I used schweser)
Do all EOC questions.
While studying MAKE your OWN detailed revision NOTES
Use video lectures to reinforce concepts & help with issues
Keep refering to your REVISION notes
Do CFAI blue box examples.
Make a reference of the mistakes and return to those questions later.
Attempt some Mocks from your study provider
Do atleast last 3 years’ CFAI past papers (the more the merry).
Revise from your notes near exam. Refer to books if problem with a concept.
Last but not the least have ABSOLUTE faith in whatever you believe it
It may sound tough but it’s worth it & remember NO GOOD thing in this world comes FREE
All the best